25 artists, mostly from the north-western parts of Russia, plan to work on the White Sea coast between Kandalaksha and Umba from July 25 to August 5. Sketches will be exhibited on August 4 at the Local History Museum in Kandalaksha. Works based on the collected materials, when ready, are promised to be presented to the public from September 21 to November 18, 2018, in the Regional Art Museum in Murmansk at Ul. Kominterna 13.

A few days ago, on April 20 2017, the Ministry of Justice declared the Kola Ecological Center, of which my mate Alexandra is a member, a “foreign agent” for receiving foreign financing and being engaged in political activity.

Its “political activity” appears to be taking part in public hearings where government officials were present.

The “foreign agent” status means, in addition to a serious stigma, a significant increase in the amount of reporting paperwork the NGO has to do.

The Kola Ecological Center is behind the eco-trails east of Kandalaksha and near Kolvitsa. They also orchestrated the construction of a WW2 memorial in Kolvitsa. These are the sort of things that stand out in their work, not attempting to influence Russian government officials using foreign funds.

“In the winter of 1888, on the 5th (new style: 18th) of January, at about three in the morning, the residents of Kashkarantsy were awakened by a strange and terrifying noise of ice mountains of huge size moving onto their village from the sea, destroying barns, houses, and boats..”